Prince
by MagicWarriorDragon
Summary: Kion thrives on social interaction. In a world where Kiara was never born, and Kion is next in line for the throne. He doesn't have the Roar. He doesn't really have any friends, due to everyone treating him, even kids his own age, like a Prince instead of a child. He just wants friends. Ones that don't call him "Prince Kion." He meets his friends from the show one by one.
1. Fool

**AN: So I have story ideas/prompts on my profile that I thought up and didn't want to write myself...**

 **...Turns out I wanted to write this one so I did. Its a series of connected one shots that will come together at the end.**

 **If anyone wants to expand upon this idea, adopt it when this story is finished.**

 **I currently have two other chapters besides this one written and I plan to have a total of 5 chapters. One for each member of the guard besides Kion. I have Bunga's chapter written (obviously) Beshte's, and Fuli's. I still have to come up with and write what I'm doing for Ono. Suggestions?**

 **The prompt I wrote for this originally will be at the bottom. Check out my profile for other prompts, you may even adopt one! (Shameless self-promo XD)**

 **Disclaimer: I Own nothing and make no claim of ownership to anything recognizable. I make no money off of this. I do not own anything! T-T**

Bunga

Prince. Oh how Kion hated that word. He was just so fed up with everyone bowing and asking if he needed anything. He was fed up with the expectations piled on top of him. The animals of the pride lands still remembered the tyranny of Scar's rule. Simba had long been their ruler, and they expected him to continue his father's legacy and many would protect him if the need came. In their minds, his death meant the rise of another Scar; Another evil ruler.

Kion sighed as he walked through the lush grasses of his father's land. He just wanted to be alone. He didn't want to deal with the other animals right now. His father encourages him to explore the pride lands and play with his friends. But what friends? The other lions his own age get nervous when he approaches them, or try to kiss up to him for what they think will grant them power in the future. He saw right through all of them.

His father meant well, and Kion could see that. But he didn't understand. Simba wasn't even raised by lions his entire life. Only when he was young, was he was raised by lions. Simba stayed mainly by his father's side as a cub. He had been taught by Simba all the lessons from his father he could remember, along with the often hilarious memories Simba had to tell about them.

He smiled grimly to himself at the memory. Padding silently through the grass, the quiet serenity of the moment was broken when a furry object crashed into Kion's side. He rolled with the momentum until he came to a stop, quickly rising back onto his paws. Hevi kabisa, what was that? "Oh, hey! Who are you? My name's Bunga. Want to play baobab ball with me?" Kion's head was spinning. It was obvious that the honey badger didn't recognize him. But how long would that last? How long until he figures it out because another animal calls him prince?

But the little honey badger was staring at him with eyes full of so much hope that he couldn't resist. He hasn't had anyone threat him like just another child in so long… "I don't know how to play baobab ball, though." The honey badger perked up, taking his statement has his acceptance to play. "Oh, it's easy! All you have to do is try to take the baobab fruit from the person who as it and keep it away from them as long as possible! Catch!"

Kion laughed as the hard fruit was tossed at his head. He jumped up and tossed it through the air by hitting his head against it. Bunga jumped up, yelling, "Zuka Zama!" This is amazing! Kion played with Bunga, tumbling and running through the grass. Bunga stole the fruit and took off running, laughing and giggling as he yelled, "Can't catch me!" Kion ran after him, relaxing and finally beginning to immerse himself in the experience of playing such a simple, childish game.

For once, expectations didn't way him down. Right now, he is just a young lion cub playing. Kion ran off after him, pinning him to the ground and barking out, "Caught you!" For a millisecond, Kion feared he had hurt the smaller honey badger. But then Bunga laughed and tried to push him off him. Kion rolled him, and they lay there panting. Then, Kion blinked in surprise as the baobab fruit was thrown up into the air again.

Their game continued in full force. A while later, when both of them were exhausted, Kion caught sight of a flash of blue and orange. He sighed, Zazu. "Bye, Bunga! I have to go home, it's getting late." With those parting words, he ran off. Bunga was left staring behind him, just now realizing that he had never gotten the lion's name throughout the entire game. Kion was smiling as he ran home. He had run off to avoid Bunga asking his name and finding out who he is.

He arrived home, his mother and father smiling fondly down at him as Zazu started to lecture him about the importance of _not_ ditching him. Night fell over the pride lands and Kion—along with his family—took their rightful place in the center of the pride. Kion slept peacefully that night, dreaming of playing baobab ball in a world where he wasn't the crown prince of the pride lands.

 **AN: So sorry if this is terrible, I am new to writing in 3rd person privileged and character introspective. That is kinda what this is, actually, a character study. Hmm. I've really been able to test out different writing styles while writing this one, so I'm having a lot of fun with it. XD**

 **So here is that prompt I wrote up when I posted this as a prompt on my profile- I don't think there are any spoilers.. Wait I just read it, there are. Taking those out now... (The full one is still on my profile though. I got rid of one sentence on this one to avoid immediate spoilage.**

 **The Lion Guard:** Kion thrives on social interaction. In a world where Kiara was never born, and Kion is next in line for the throne. He doesn't have the Roar. He doesn't really have any friends, due to everyone treating him, even kids his own age, like a Prince instead of a child. He just wants friends. Ones that don't call him "Prince Kion" or "Your Majesty." He meets his friends (from the show) one by one. None of them know he is the prince, assuming he is just a normal lion. They meet, some times briefly, sometimes a quick game ensues. Those are the happy times for Kion. Other times, he is training to be a king and Simba does't notice that he is alone with no friends, assuming that he goes and has fun when he roams the Pridelands in his spare time. Kion would be less happy and exuberant, more... Distant? Cold? Princely, than happy child. They later find out he is a prince, and of course trip over themselves to apologize for not treating him like a prince. Kion is sad about that, something happens that brings them together, esc.


	2. Friend

**Enjoy!**

Beshte

"Okay Kion. Go have fun, todays morning lessons are over. Don't go too far from pride rock, though."

"Okay, Dad. I know Dad."

"And don't go to-"

"The outlands. I am going now."

Kion walked off of pride rock, straightening his back and walking as quickly as he could without running as other lions walked by him, offered to escort him wherever he was going. All of them, of course, called him Prince Kion. These lions, most of whom he had known his entire life, still called him Prince Kion instead of simply Kion. Only his family calls him Kion.

He should be used to it by now, but he isn't. He could handle it if he had a few people that aren't his family called him Kion instead of "Prince Kion" or "Your Majesty" or "Your Highness." The even more formal animals called him "His Royal Highness" and when he asked them, the royal part just means he is a senior prince, the next in line. But it is mainly a formality that has died out.

Kion was now out of pride rock and trying to decide what to do. He could go for yet another walk around pride rock, but that didn't appeal to him at the moment. Kion felt the sun beating down on him and decided that it felt like a good day for a swim. All of the lakes and ponds near where Kion was at the moment would be full of animals that would more than likely be glad to allow him to swim with them. That's just the thing though; he didn't want to evict the other animals out of the water so he could swim. They would leave or clear a space for him and ignore his protests.

That wouldn't be relaxing at all. So Kion starting searching for a place to swim and relax where that wouldn't happen.

Oh, this looks perfect! Kion thought that the area was nice and secluded, the perfect area to swim in. Kion lowered himself into the water and started to swim around. The trees provided a good amount of shade over the pond he was swimming in, Kion thought. He almost jumped clear out of the water when he hears another voice, "Hello! It's a wonderful day to be swimming don't you think? This is a great place to swim when all the other places are really crowded. Not that I mind, but I just wanted to come out here today. You don't mind sharing, do you?"

Kion's gaze snapped towards the hippo that had risen out of the water to his left when he wasn't playing attention. "No, I don't mind sharing. I just found this place and found it very… peaceful."

"Sorry for scaring you earlier, I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"No, no. It's fine. I was just a little startled; I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings."

"I just realized that I never introduced myself, I'm Beshte."

Kion realized this was heading into dangerous territory. He had to change the subject quickly before Beshte realizes that he hasn't—and refuses too—tell him his name. Beshte is just like Bunga, meeting an animal around his age and being friendly. Not recognizing him as the "crown prince of the Pride lands."

"This is a really cool pond you have here. How did you find it in the first place? I just stumbled upon it while looking for a nice place to swim."

"Oh it's an interesting story, actually-"

Kion listened intently to Beshte's story, internally sighing in relief as it became apparent that Beshte didn't notice that Kion hadn't introduced himself in return.

"-And I tumbled right into this pond! But it's getting late. I have to get back to my pod. See you around!"

"Bye, Beshte!"

Beshte later realized that he never got the lion cubs name that he had spent his afternoon with. He would ask when they met again, first thing! As for Kion, he just had another one of the rare days where he met someone that hasn't recognized him and still hasn't called him "Prince" the entire time they have known each other.

That had really only happened once before, with Bunga. The last few times it almost happened, someone would walk up and call him "Prince" and the animal would freak out and start apologizing for how they treated him—They treated him like a normal animal and they felt the need to apologize!—and Kion would assure them everything was fine. But any fun they had been having officially died at that point. Or the animal would eventually say something like, "I knew I recognized you from _somewhere!_ Are you P-Prince Kion? I'm so sorry, I haven't been treating you like the royalty you are! How can I make it up to you?" and so on. Seems his luck was improving, as of late.


	3. Very Fast

**AN: I have no idea what he is upset about, don't ask. I would love to hear theories on what he could b so upset over, though... I kinda want to know myself.**

 **Oh, and has anyone else figured out that the chapter titles are the English translations of the character's names? :P**

Fuli

Kion cried as he ran. By this point, he had forgotten why he was crying in the first place.

But he knew he just had to run. So he ran. He ran at a speed that hid is tears from the passerby's and made it seem like he was just running because he wanted to.

Not because he was upset for a reason that he had already pulled out of his mind and stomped on.

He ignored them when he ran by them at first, ignoring them as they started to run in a panic alongside him.

"Hey! What was that for! You just messed up my hunt!"

The words cut through Kion, his ears working again and slowing the movement of his paws.

"Huh?"

Another presence was running beside him. Kion skidded to a stop in surprise.

"Oh. Are you okay?" The voice had softened.

"Um. Ya. I'm fine."

"Oookaay then… Well, what were you doing?"

"Running."

"Want to run with me? I'll try to catch my meal later today, so don't worry about it."

"Okay. Where to?"

"Let's just run in a random direction. I'm Fuli, by the way."

Kion welcomed the company. The running distracted him, and having someone else near was easing the pain in his heart. He took off, going as fast as he could with a glance of his head back to see if Fuli had followed. A cloud of dust greeted his sight and the cheetah was next to him. She sent him a challenging look and ran faster, daring him to try and keep up.

Kion laughed and ran faster, his sadness and tears all but forgotten.


	4. Ono

**AN: I feel bad. I had this ready to post like a month ago. And I haven't posted it until now. Ono translates to Obedience according to the page I found online about the Swahili expert who works for the Lion Guard production team. I think the title of the article is "Zuka Zama! A chat with the lion guard's Swahili expert, Sarah Mirza," if you want to look it up.**

* * *

Ono

Kion walked through the pride lands, tall grass surrounding him in every direction. He had no direction of travel in mind, but some part of him was likely hoping for something new and interesting to see. As he stepped out into a small gap in the grass, he heard a small crunching sound and felt something squish under his right forepaw. Kion looked down and saw the spilled guts of a large bug splattered over the ground and on the bottom of his paw.

"Sorry little guy, I have taken you out of the circle of life prematurely due to my inattention." Kion allowed himself an extremely brief moment of grief – nothing extreme, just a dip of his head before cleaning his paw with a lick and continuing forward.

Kion's head snapped up and his ears swiveled forward towards the sound of frantic flapping. "Are you alright? I almost slammed by beak into you! I could have sworn I saw a tasty looking bug here a second ago, but here you are and no bug!" A slightly nasally, but optimistic sounding voice found its way to Kion's ears.

"Oh. There was a bug here, but I accidentally stepped on it a second ago. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it! There are plenty of bugs in the pride lands to go around! I'm just surprised I didn't see you in the grass before I dived down to get the bug…"

"Oh. That's my fault as well. My coat must have been blending in my with the savanna grass too well for you to have seen me from way up there."

"No worries! You must be a really good hunter then! Blending in is a good skill for lions, isn't it?"

"Hey, I know! Why don't we go hunt for some bugs together? You don't have to eat any, of course, but we can just hang out for a little while. My name's Ono!"

"That's sounds like a great idea! It should be a good way for me to apologize for interrupting your hunt, anyway."

"Like I said before, no apologies needed! This is just a little fun!"

"So, where too?" Kion had no idea where to even start looking for bugs.

"Follow me! I know just the place!" Ono took off again, having landed in front of Kion during some point in their conversation.

Kion runs on the ground under Ono while he flew. "Okay, here we are!" Ono cheerfully lands on a moss-covered fallen log. "The bugs are right under the log! Please lift it for me?" Ono flapped his wings and landed on the ground, a few hops away from the log. "Sure thing!" Kion moved his shoulder under the log and grunted as he lifted it away from the ground and throwing it away. If the hollow log was any bigger than it was, Kion wouldn't have been able to lift it at all.

"Thanks!" With that, Ono started eating his meal.

"I have to go now, Ono. I hope you enjoy your meal!" Kion knew he had to leave before Ono realized he didn't know his name. Kion was getting better at timing when he leaves so the strangers he meets do not realize they never got his name before he leaves.

You know the old saying told to every child by their parents, "Never talk to strangers?" Well Kion did know that, but he also knew that the pride lands, ruled by his father, are a safe place. And, if he did run into any trouble, all he had to do was yelled and any lion nearby would run to his rescue. That doesn't even include any of the kind animals that would also help a total stranger out of the kindness of their hearts.

Ono started speaking, not even noticing that Kion had slipped away into the tall grass moments before. "Well, see you around, then. But I never got your name…?" Ono swallowed another bug and turned around when he didn't hear a reply. "Where did he go? He did say he had to go, maybe he was in a hurry." With that, Ono turned around and resumed his meal.


End file.
